Ruth Varner

Research Associate Professor

Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space and Department of Earth Sciences

Graduate Students in S2I

Center for Excellence in Geosciences Education Funded by UNH (May 2011) to:

“bring active geosciences researchers/faculty, education researchers/faculty, and outreach practitioners together to continuously evaluate, develop and administer geosciences education”

Values: Inquiry, authentic experiences and integration of science and education

S2I and CEGE NSF funded programs as a model for graduate

student professional development: TESSE and PROBE (GK-12)

Building graduate students’ ability to communicate with the public via partnerships with high school teachers and their students

• Graduate Fellows from a variety of STEM disciplines

• Combined Summer Institute for teachers and Graduate Fellows (intensive relationship building) and academic year partnership (extended contact time)

• Graduate Fellows partner with teachers to develop inquiry-rich curricula and lesson plans

• Graduate Fellow Peer Learning Communities facilitated by a science educator/specialist

PROBE (GK-12)

• Graduate Fellows selected from specific Earth System Science disciplines

• Summer Institute lengthened and content specific

• Inquiry tied to modeled activities related to content during Summer Institute

• Frequency of meetings increased, with additional focus on basic educational theory and classroom techniques

TESSE

S2I Graduate Professional Development

Graduate Fellows are linked to a specific interdisciplinary research program

Summer Institute will include teachers exposure to labs/research of the Graduate Fellows’

Classroom inquiry/content tied to Graduate Fellows’ research

Graduate Fellows will participate in a program exploring the basic educational theory, classroom techniques and building communication skills

S2I Education thoughts: Graduate students – recruitment of students with

interdisciplinary interests Summer Institute (2 weeks)

Recruit high school teachers (physics, math, Earth science) Focus content on Sun-Earth system concepts Time for teachers to get into the lab/research Note that teachers are not prepared to teach current

concepts and controversies What to do when scientists don’t agree?

Remember that these teachers are scientists – engaging them to bring this information to their classrooms

What are core skills and knowledge that we as a scientific community think are important for our students to have?